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  • Chapter 5 - Longing (desiderium) for Vengeance as the Foundation of the Commonwealth*

  • Edited by Yitzhak Y. Melamed, The Johns Hopkins University, Hasana Sharp, McGill University, Montréal
  • Book:
    Spinoza's <I>Political Treatise</I>
    Published online:
    19 July 2018
    Print publication:
    02 August 2018, pp 78-92

  • Summary

    This chapter examines Spinoza’s claim in TP, Chapter 6 that a multitude unites to form a political body prompted not by reason but by some common affect: fear, hope, or desire to avenge a common injury. This chapter examines the possibility, realisability, and legitimacy of such a paradoxical and problematic form of unity. It demonstrates the originality of Spinoza’s thesis, which has not been recognised by commentators. It examines the problems a foundation of revenge involves, such as durability, susceptibility to violence, and legitimacy. It concludes with a definition of the “correct use” of revenge by distinguishing carefully, as Spinoza does, a passion for revenge that derives from desiderium rather than from cupiditas. It illuminates the precise kind of vindictive affect that can ground a multitude’s agreement, and thus sovereign law and common justice.